As it so happened, Aiden’s friends had been sorted into D and C classes.

After watching the first of Alaric’s friends get B-class yet he had been the last of his to get appraised, Aiden wasn’t in a talkative mood anymore.

Instead, he swallowed his pride and silently joined the appraised group of Aspirants saying nothing back at Alaric.

Alaric stared forward as Aiden joined the rest, ‘What’s his problem? He got a high appraisal.’

[I thought you weren’t interested in making friends with some talkative boy you’d just met] Alia reiterated a version of Alaric’s past thoughts.

‘…’ the dark-haired boy sighed, keeping his face expressionless against the tumultuous emotions revolving in his heart.

Alaric hadn’t even asked the three children for their names or where they were from.

He knew a few neighbouring villages but had no clue which one they were from. Shaking away the thoughts, he resolved to talking to them when he next got the chance.

Now though, another problem presented itself.

The first three classes had been sorted… and the appraisal had been far more brutal than anything Alaric could have imagined.

Powerful guardians seemed to be far rarer than Alaric had first thought.

Now, only a few aspirants remained on the side that had not yet been appraised. A boy so large for his age that he must have been some long-lost descendant of a giant.

A girl dressed in neat simple clothes with her silky blonde hair tied in a high ponytail, Alaric, Darla and one more individual.

The room had gone deathly silent especially because of this one person.

It was a boy in tattered clothes and his hands bound by rope, a guard standing behind in the white plate armour of the Tower’s guards.

The smug grin on the boy’s face stretched from one ear to the other as everyone came to realise that the possibility of him having an A-class guardian had just skyrocketed.

‘Not good…’ Alaric thought to himself.

[I wouldn’t be so worried about him] Alia shrugged.

[He’s a thief. Who knows what else he has done?]

[For a sinister thief, he’s dressed rather terribly, don’t you think?] Alia replied.

Alaric looked back at the boy. His smug expression was more than enough to divert anyone’s attention from the callouses on his hands, the dirt on his clothes, the subtle dampness at the tattered hems of his ragged clothes.

These easily overlooked features told a story unlike one Alaric could have thought of at first glance.

What were the odds that the boy had travelled to the Tower on foot? He also seemed alone which could only mean he wasn’t supervised. Did he even have a home, to begin with?

[There you go, little prince. Not everything is as it seems. Remember not to be quick to judge] Alia’s voice rang through his head.

Alaric was forced to reconsider his views of the boy. Could there be more to his story than a life of thievery and crime?

If he was as good a thief as Alaric thought him to be, why would he be dressed in clothes that bad?

The boy chuckled darkly as he too realised the implications of his current predicament. Not only was he on a temporary pardon for his crimes but his value had also undergone a severe increase.

The world had just twisted in his favour so much so that he couldn’t help but laugh at this situation.

Discarding his former opinion of the boy, Alaric chose to silently observe. After all, there were a few more pressing issues at the moment.

Only five aspirants remained.

After everything that had happened, these were the only ones left in the group that would be appraised for A-class.

S-class remained out of reach as per the stories while A-class was already so powerful that no one really cared for an S-class appraisal.

Oddly enough, however, Alaric’s shock vanished as soon as it had arrived. Compared to the swarm of aspirants that had been sorted out, these remaining four each bore a subtle oppressive aura about them.

Even without expressing their emotions, the world around seemed to react to their slight whims in subtle ways.

Staring at the large boy could easily make an inferior person go weak at the knees.

The blonde girl was perhaps the only aspirant he’d seen who could rival Darla’s beauty and as the cherry on top, looking at her only entranced someone to look even more.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Darla had a chilling stare that Alaric had witnessed several times himself back in the Five Hills.

Of the four aspirants, the one whose aura wasn’t as oppressive was the bound thief.

Alaric was willing to bet that none of these four had panicked during the appraisal of the lower two classes.

“Ah, Five Hills boy made it to this part of the Appraisal Ceremony,” the old man’s voice boomed with barely-contained excitement.

‘Do I know that old man?’ Alaric wondered.

[I apologize. It is I who is attracting this much attention to you,] Alia sighed.

‘You’ve done nothing wrong, Alia,’ Alaric responded.

Now that there were only five aspirants left, the ceremony was going to end soon. A small group of emerald orbs glowed brighter and descended.

Gasps ran through the group as everyone stared at the descending orbs. This time, even the old man tensed up on the floating platform, staring at the descending orbs with a petrified expression, “It can’t be.”

Tension rose in the room as something unspeakable unfolded.

Four orbs descended and settled on top of the heads of four individuals.

Alaric recounted the orbs a few times, then felt the blood drain out of his face… ‘One’s missing.’

Following the course of the four orbs, he watched as each orb settled above the heads of the four Aspirants… but him.

Alaric looked up and found that the space above his head was empty.

His heart sank.

‘Is this the part where we panic?’ he wondered, barely containing himself.

[Take a deep breath,] Alia replied… and so he did.

Alaric’s realisation was slow and crushing.

At first, he’d thought this setup of the Appraisal Ceremony was bad only for those with low-class guardians.

It had been a mess at the start after-all.

Aspirants had cried, bawled their eyes out, fought, cursed and done all sorts of things to try and reject their fates as the bronze and red orbs descended on their heads.

The calmest time was when the emerald orbs had chosen the aspirants that would be B-class.

But that had all been his naivety talking because now, the tables had turned.

Not only had the last of the aspirants been appraised but he was still standing there unclassified.

Eyes of envy, greed and jealousy bore into the bodies of the aspirants with the emerald orbs while a few eyes of suspicion bore into the frame of the sole aspirant without an orb floating above him.

Alaric’s ears naturally listened to the murmurs on the other side of the room:

“Think he’s an S-class?” “Na… he’s probably trying to get a second appraisal illegally. It happens sometimes for unworthy saps expecting to get a different appraisal the second time.” “The Elder Seekers would never allow that kind of mistake though.” “And yet they let a thief in…” “You have a point there.”

The murmurs continued.

‘Not good…’ Alaric thought to himself.

[Relax, little prince] Alia’s voice rumbled through his mind.

Alaric took in a deep breath and shut out the voices. It would be nice to say they didn’t get to him… but they did.

Somewhere inside him, he wanted to prove them all wrong.

Fortunately for him, this was not the time to entertain such thoughts.

Everyone had come here to receive something as legendary as an A-class appraisal… but now that only four had made it, something darker was revealed.

A good portion of the aspirants looked at them with envy, jealousy and greed while a few stared with much darker ambitions.

The change was subtle but Alaric’s heightened senses picked it up efficiently.

The dark-haired boy’s eyes darted through the angry mob, memorizing and burning the most hateful glares into memory. These, he could look out for… but these weren’t the most dangerous.

There were others who didn’t show this hatred openly on their faces.

Alaric blinked and his eyes flickered with a subtle kaleidoscopic effect.

This time, his eyes saw more than just people. He could see their auras as well. And among those that were enraged by the cruelty of the Appraising ceremony, there were petty souls that held emotions far darker than mere envy.

Some even masked it with expressions of indifference… but Alaric saw the darkness of their souls in the form of vile dark hues of hatred.

Alaric would remember these faces the most.

“My my! I did not foresee this,” the familiar old man’s voice rumbled with a hint of curiosity, “Let’s have the A-class candidates join the rest.”

Darla gave Alaric’s hand a squeeze and a reassuring smile.

“Find Finn and wait for me,” Alaric ordered.

She nodded and walked away with the other A-class aspirants.

Alaric watched as the three aspirants with the most powerful guardians walked off and joined the rest.

Now, only he stood alone on the side of aspirants who hadn’t been appraised.

The dark-haired boy took in a sharp breath and tried his best to ignore the eyes boring into his frame.

He looked up and waited for the orbs to glow… Was his A-class rating running late?

‘What’s the hold-up?’ Alaric wondered.

[It takes time to classify S-class guardians. It’s only natural that there would be trouble appraising me] Alia responded with a yawn.

The boy sighed and looked around, trying to keep his eyes away from the other aspirants.

Elder Gregory looked up at the orbs with a frown, “Are you sure you’re an Aspirant?”

Alaric went still at the question.

He looked up.

Nothing was responding to him. ‘What’s happening?’

“Answer the question, boy. Unless you want me to force you to reveal your true form,” the old man asked.

Alaric had been here long enough to know he stood no chance against the old man. But he also knew the old man was nothing if not reasonable, “Is something wrong with the orbs?”

“The orbs are just fine.”

“Then what’s my appraisal?” Alaric steeled his voice.

The man went silent. With a sigh, he looked up to the orbs and with it, his platform rose until he was high up. There, the orbs all moved away from him. The man held out his hand and a few golden orbs flew to them.

Alaric saw the slight glint in his eye as he studied the small devices. His face turned a bit pale. With a wave of his hand, two of the gold gems merged with each other…

Nothing happened.

His face turned paler still.

Training an eye on the waiting boy’s form, the elder turned away from the aspirants and continued his tinkering in privacy. After a while, his shoulders drooped.

There was a short silence before he turned back to the aspirants, not showing his hands. There was no orb in sight and yet his platform came down.

“Aspirant Alaric has been appraised as S-class,” the man confirmed with a bright smile.

“Where is the orb that chose him?” a steely voice hissed from among the aspirants.

The man remained still for a moment before opening his hand to reveal a glowing golden orb. The orb floated down and settled above Alaric’s head.

[This is not our classification. It’s much too weak,] Alaric’s guardian whispered with a hint of rage in her voice.

‘That’s good then,’ Alaric responded.

Being S-class came with its perks… But right now, there was nothing more dangerous. If Alaric couldn’t be classified by the orbs available, then it was a good thing the old man had hidden this fact.

Elder Gregory opened his mouth to speak only to get interrupted by a female aspirant.

“You… boy from Five Hills,” the steely voice stopped the Elder in his tracks.

Alaric turned in time to see who was approaching him. What came from her mouth, however, shocked him to his core.

“Name your price… then give me your guardian.”

Silence…

‘Huh…’